Rubicon Cinema will present the films from a pioneer of experimental film, Stan Brakhage, Saturday, May 13, along with Oberlin-based filmmaker Rian Brown-Orso, who will personally be present at the show, introduce her work and host a Q&A afterward.
The event starts at 8:30 p.m., at Blue Sky Studio, 943 Dopler St.
While Stan Brakhage’s films are sometimes as shot as a few seconds, others are more epic in scope and duration and, according to the New York Times’ A.C. Scott, “nclude meditations on sexuality and domestic life, as well as wholly abstract compositions made by scratching, dyeing and otherwise altering the celluloid itself.”
His films at the event will include: “Window Water Baby Moving,” (1959, 16mm, color, silent, 12 minutes), a poetic documentary on the birth of the Brakhage’s first child; and “Anticipation of the Night,” (1958, 16mm, color, silent, 42 minutes), a diary of Brakhage’s life events and his feelings about them.
Rian Brown-Orso works in many film genres, including experimental, personal narrative, documentary and video installation. She explores notions of motherhood, identity, landscape, memory and nostalgia in both narrative structure and visual style. Reflecting Brown-Orso’s background in painting, her films also deploy rich, visually dynamic imagery, hand-painted animation, and experimental techniques.
Her films at the event will include: “Presence of Water,” (1999, 27 minutes), a collage/essay film shot in Italy when the artist was 8 months pregnant; “Hand-Painted Animation Studies,” (2017, 6 minutes); “Into the Scrum,” (2012, 16 minutes), a view of women’s rugby; “Death of the Moth,” (2003, 15 minutes), based on a short story by Virginia Woolf, with sound composed by Tom Lopez; and “The Settler,” (2002, 15 minutes), a film about the search for water on Mars.
Attendees may bring their own beer, wine or snack. Admission is free but organizers recommend $5 to $10 donations to support Rubicon Cinema.
For info, visit www.facebook.com/rubiconakron or email [email protected].
